Thanks for the suggestions.. am still downloading n trying out.. was able to boot into knoppix kde by typing the cheatcode "failsafe" but the old serial mouse didnt work

also vector linux and Damn Small Linux were successfully installed. (one by one not multi boot) It has a 4GB hard disk only

However.. the Live DSL worked but aftr the hd install & after ejecting the cd, there was no way the boot happened frm the hdd.

I've set the boot sequence as "CDROM, C, A" in the BIOS options.

Dont know wht else cud be done. Should i be cheking the jumpers in the harddisk ?